Overclocked Remix

[DZComposer]

I just need to rant about something. You can ignore it if you wish.

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard about Overclocked Remix (OCR).  It's well known for it's vary large collection of video game arrangements. I have two of my own works on the site, Mercenarios de Lobo, and a Sector X remix I did.

Anyway, I recently submitted an arrangement of Korobeiniki from Tetris. And to my shock and surprise, it was rejected. Now, before you go off an say I'm just butthurt , hear me out.

The reason I am shocked and surprised is that this piece is orders of magnitude better in terms of technical arrangement than either of the two works I have on the site already. Apparently the method I used to humanize the piece (make the performance subtlety imperfect) did not work well enough for the judges. My issue? I feel that I have a good ear for music, and I quite frankly did not hear what they did. They seemed to like the arrangement, just not the "performance."

I did little digging, and I noticed something: Most of the judges are professional musicians now. This was not always the case. Reading the rejections of other pieces, I realized just how nitpicky these people are. If you don't EQ your song perfect, NO. If you have a little bit of noise on the line, NO. It almost seems like you need a degree in audio engineering and have the money to afford pro-sounding equipment to get anything on the site these days. There is some damn-good stuff in OCR's reject pile

I also noticed that OCR has been putting albums together lately. They've also been getting smoochy with game developers. A recent game had it's entire soundtrack as OCR remixes. To add to this, I just got this bundle of joy in my inbox today:

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Let's get OCR to do Sonic 4's music! #ocr4sonic4

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So, it's started out as a harmless little comment on Twitter.

Then it got picked up by a gaming blog.

http://pressthebuttons.com/2010/02/ocremix-wants-to-compose-sonic-4-soundtrack.html

Now it's a full blown movement.

OverClocked ReMix wants to do the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

If you've got Twitter, CLICK HERE NOW to spread the word!

http://bit.ly/ocr4sonic4

We need you guys to pimp out OCR's Sonic ReMixes on Twitter, using the hashtag #ocr4sonic4. We need logos, and graphics, and anything else you can draw to post in the forums: OCR-tan and Sonic hanging out; Sonic wearing the OCR headphones; anything you can think of! Pimp it out on your radio shows, tell your friends, spread the word! Post on Facebook, MySpace, MyFace, SpaceBook, whatever! Just get the word out!

http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27658

And to any of you naysayers: even if nothing comes of it, it never hurts to try. After all, who would have thought 5 years ago that OCR would be doing the music for a Street Fighter game? But that happened, and it was great. So let's see if we can make this happen too. (And seriously, it's mainly for fun. So let's have fun! LET'S SHOW 'EM!)

That's right: OCR feels that they have a chance to SCORE SONIC 4.

Nothing against the remixers, it really is great stuff, but I think this speaks volumes to what OCR has become: A damn record label.

I think they upped the quality standard up so high so that they can do shit like this. "This game has music BY OCR!"

Uhm, excuse me! I thought the reason OCR existed was to pay homage to our favorite video games through our musical HOBBY, NOT as a place to gather professional remixers in hope of scoring major franchise games. This is not the OCR I fell in love with and joined.

Now, why do I move on, you ask? Because there is nowhere else to go! OCR has a practical monopoly on video game arrangements. VGMix is for all intents and purposes dead (site's been broken for 2 years, and no one's bothered to fix it). I did submit the song to Tha Sauce (which accepted it, BTW), but TS is more of an aggregate, and it's own remix portal is not ready for prime yet. In fact, I wasn't even sure it was active for a while. That said, no one has created a truly remixers-first site. I smell opportunity, but sadly lack the money or time to put together a remix site myself. Hell, I even have a fair judging system in mind with an arrangement-first mentality.

I seriously doubt I will ever submit anything to OCR again. It has become a bin of elitists, and I think it is time for a new beginning. Tha Sauce is a start. They've seemingly recognized what OCR has become. So for now, I throw my support behind them. I would like to ask you to tell your friends about TS, and mention it as an alternative to OCR. OCR needs some god-damn competition to wake them up from this elitist trip they're on.

[Vy'drach]

He he, when I read you did the Mercenarios de Lobo remix, I did a double take, then went on my 360 to last.fm where I have it saved, and sure enough, DZComposer - StarFox 2 Mercenarios de Lobo OC Remix, good song, one of my most listened to on there. And about OC Remix, that's what happens to anyone that happens to be considered the "pinnacle" of anything, they lose track of why they do it and what they should do. Shame really, so many have fallen that way.

[Asper Sarnoff]

Nah, I think you're just butthurt.

Just kidding. I'm not enough into music, so I didn't really knew of any of those places before you mentioned them here. Naturally, it's sad to see something become elitistic and float away from its original purpose and goal.

[Mr. Krystal]

Yes, I noticed that too, indirectly. My favorite video game remix of all time is called Metroid MODulus by Rellik (the remixer, not the band). It is an epic example of cross-genre style, and non-repetative electronic, all featuring several different themes from Metroid intertwined into a single song.

It was apparently rejected for not being repetitive enough (or being too all over the place). It is now... probably impossible to find the song online. I'm glad I have it. ARGH! I'm more mad about it than the remixer himself! We used to have remixes every day from there, now, nothing for weeks at at time.

[DZComposer]

Ask the remixer to submit it to Tha Sauce. If it is as good as you describe, I think it will make it.

TS does have a quality standard, but it isn't crazy like OCR's now is.

[Zicka]

They are remixers, how can they be expected to compose for a videogame.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I seriously doubt I will ever submit anything to OCR again. It has become a bin of elitists, and I think it is time for a new beginning. Tha Sauce is a start. They've seemingly recognized what OCR has become. So for now, I throw my support behind them. I would like to ask you to tell your friends about TS, and mention it as an alternative to OCR. OCR needs some god-damn competition to wake them up from this elitist trip they're on.

My friends Ouija, and J.J. have the same grievances with OCR as you do, DZ.  I (and they) couldn't agree more.

[Guest DRL]

I am not a remixer, but I like to hear remixes... Some are just GREAT.

Well, ironically, my favourite remix was a real song that was remixed and placed into a fan-game: D-PAD hero. (Just listen to the Daft Punk Remix, I loved it)

I will try to get more people in it... If I can, of course. At least I will leave links to it.

(But probably not in the Log, I am just not using it now.)

[ThePointingMan]

Shoot, hehe I never new you made that song, that's pretty badical...

                                                                                                      ^ not meaning bad.